Hot stamping by using a transfer foil having a layer of a metal film, such as a deposited metal film, has hitherto been used as a method for forming a record having metallic luster. In general, the transfer foil has a construction comprising a substrate film and, laminated thereon in the following order, a release layer, an anchor layer for deposition, a layer of a metal film, and an adhesive layer, or a construction comprising the same elements as described above, except that the release layer is designed so as to function also as the anchor layer for deposition and the provision of the anchor layer for deposition is omitted. In this method, a preheated hot stamp is pressed against the transfer foil through the substrate film to achieve printing (recording).
In printing (recording) by hot stamping, however, a stamp made of a material, such as a metal, having a relief having the same configuration as a letter, a figure or the like to be printed should be prepared. This renders the hot stamping method cost-ineffective for printing, wherein the number of prints is small, and, in addition, renders the stamping method complicate from the technical viewpoint. The color of records prepared by hot stamping may be generally varied by varying a colorant, such as a dye or a pigment, incorporated into the anchor layer. In this case, however, when the formation of a multi-color record having metallic tone (metallic luster), wherein a plurality of colors are provided in a single record, is contemplated, a transfer foil having a desired color and a desired stamp should be prepared for each color, resulting in a complicated recording process.
On the other hand, in recent years, a thermal transfer recording process using a thermal transfer ribbon, such as a melt type thermal transfer ribbon or a sublimation type thermal transfer ribbon, and a thermal head has spread in the art. This process is suitable also for printing wherein the number of prints is small. Further, it is also possible to conduct multi-color recording using an ink ribbon of any desired color or full-color recording by subtraction color mixing using three colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C)(i.e., YMC) or, if necessary, four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (Bk) (i.e., YMCBk).
However, in the formation of a multi-color or full-color record having metallic luster in the same manner described above in connection with the conventional transfer foil, when a transfer ribbon, for example, for YMC, with yellow, magenta, and cyan dyes being incorporated into the anchor layer for deposition is used, printing of a deposited metal layer for one color followed by printing of the deposited metal layer for another color poses a problem that the later deposited metal layer hides the earlier printed color in an overlapped area. For this reason, the above process can neither reproduce a full-color image nor express a desired color.